Peter Knight - composer/trumpeter/PRODUCER
Perpetually curious, composer/trumpeter Peter Knight’s practice exists in the spaces between categories, between genres & between cultures.
From 2013-23 Peter was the Artistic Director and co-CEO of the Australian Art Orchestra, for which he commissioned over 100 compositions and collaborations from a diverse range of international and Australian artists. He also composed for, and performed in the company, presenting his works at international festivals and venues in more than a dozen countries winning awards including four AMC Art Music Awards, the Albert H Maggs Composition Prize, and numerous ARIA nominations.
Peter has maintained an active solo career developing an international reputation as a innovator who is extending the possibilities of his instrument with approaches that interweave acoustic preparations, extended techniques with electroacoustic processing via laptop, vintage delays, tape machines, and pedals. His latest solo release, Shadow Phase, is out on the ROOM40 label, described by Headphone Commute as, "a carefully curated exercise in reflective restraint, dreamy atmospherics, ebbing dynamics.”
Peter’s current touring projects include ARIA nominated, Hand to Earth, featuring Yolngu songkeepers, Daniel & David Wilfred (MOKUY ROOM40), his solo work, Shadow Phase, and a new collaboration with Indonesian duo, Senyawa (The Prey and the Ruler ROOM40).
Peter also composes for film and recently completed the score for soon to be released Australian feature, Kid Snow (in collaboration with Warren Ellis). He works in contemporary theatre, most notably with acclaimed director, Tamara Saulwick (Chamber Made) with whom he has made five works that blur the boundaries between theatre and music performance that have toured to major international festivals and won three Green Room awards.
Peter was a Creative Australia Music Fellow 2013-14. He holds a doctorate in music composition from Griffith University and was named its 2013 Alumnus of the Year. He is a board member of Melbourne’s iconic arts centre, The Substation. He was also recently appointed to faculty for the Soundweavings intercultural music residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada.
* * *
“A sonic world of wonder, warmth, and possibility.” The Saturday Paper (review of Shadow Phase)
“Solos here were like songlines, not paving superhighways through a compositional infrastructure but leaving faint footprints in a soundscape that evolved as organically as an ecosystem.” Downbeat
“Hard to categorise… hauntingly memorable” The Wire (UK)
“Hand to Earth is a truly exquisite album” * * * * * Songlines Magazine (UK)
“If trumpet is an element then Knight is an alchemist.” New York City Jazz Record